Rooibos Fruits Rouges

Sipdown! (14 | 87)

Another one from Courtney. I think I only have one left after this – yay for sipping down swap samples!

I believe this is the rooibos version of a black tea I have called Charlotte aux Fruits Rouges, which Dammann doesn’t seem to carry anymore. Unfortunately, I don’t like this quite as much…

Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly tasty. There’s a jammy, strawberry-heavy red fruits flavor that goes well with the woody rooibos base. But I feel like I don’t get a whole lot of the biscuit here. I wonder if the rooibos is overpowering it or something? I remember there being more buttery biscuit goodness in the black version. It also tastes like there’s a hint of lavender, which is something I also found in another red fruits tea from Dammann.

I’ll have to pull the other one out and enjoy it before it doesn’t have any flavor left!

The dry leaf smells almost buttery here. There is the scent of rooibos, but it’s fairly tame.

At it’s warmest, the fruit is mostly forward, but mixed so much with the rooibos it’s hard to tease apart the two. As the tea cools, the biscuit comes out and the rooibos calms down, making it a much more enjoyable cup.

I steeped this for 3 minutes, 30 seconds instead of the 4-5 minute recommendation.

I couldn’t finish this one off before bed, so I threw the rest of my mug in the fridge to have it this morning. The smell is definitely rooibos, but the taste is more fruits with a hint of biscuit. The bonus is that the cold is very refreshing! It’s making me want to cold brew all the teas.